The Lake Erie King- some useful information and ranting

Another dry fly pattern that is not mine, I probably tie it wrong, and it has a stupid name in that it has nothing to do with Lake Erie. I learned about the pattern in 1985 when I signed up for a fly tying magazine. It was a weird situation: the mag was having a hard time staying afloat, and issues were sporadic. I think I got three issues, a bunch of letters whining about their problems, and then maybe a fourth or fifth issue about a year later. But one of the articles was about "The Lake Erie King".

The pattern was "discovered" by Chauncy Lively who found a bunch of them in a bin in a fly shop up in Grayling, Michigan. He published an article about it in 1985, and the article was later published again about 2005 in a newer fly tying magazine, thereby hosing my best secret pattern. My memory is going to dust, but supposedly the pattern got its name from the original tyer, who lived on the shores of Lake Erie but would travel north to fish trout in northern Michigan. Stupid name, and the origination is probably apochryphal. But the pattern kicks butt.

This is a simple fly and if you wanted to view it as one of the billion variations of an Adams you can. It is an Adams, but with two changes: a peacock herl body, and the wings are grizzly tips that sweep back at a 45 degree angle. For those who insist, here is the entire recipe:

Tail: brown and grizzly hackle fibers, mixed.
Body: peacock herl
Wings: grizzly tips, tied flat and swept back at a 45 degree angle. Look at a deer fly.
Hackle: traditional, brown and grizzly mixed.
Thread: chartreuse (this was my idea) next time you swat a deer fly successfully, look at it's eyes.

This is the buggiest looking pattern in the history of fly fishing, or at least one of them. It resembles a deer fly, which is why trout probably eat it with abandon. Use it on late summer mornings and you will be filled with joy. There are two things to remember when tying it.

1. You can make the wings longer and thinner (my preference) or shorter and wider. I have seen it both ways and either is correct. Lively tied them longer and thinner.

2. The pattern does not last long unless you use a thread trick. Cover the hook shank with an even layer of chartreuse thread, and leave a long tag end hanging out the back. When it comes time to tie in the herl, twist the herl strands around the tag thread for strength. Wind it all together for a more durable body. It is easier to do than explain. Or just use the chartreuse tag thread in a reverse spiral rib.

Now the rant. One of the things I hate most about fly tying is the vast number of yahoos that get drunk, and devise some miniscule variation of a traditional pattern, post it on the web, and then they then name after themselves. The jim-ed special- an adams with red tail! Or the jim-bob killer- a brown hackle with two strands of krystal flash as an overwing! Such brilliance and innovation demands that their names be remembered forever as tying masters of highly original patterns. Not. Everyone should just stop doing this. But as much as I hate the trend, the Lake Erie King is so effective that I overlook it's obvious relationship to the Adams, and issue a dispensation to the guy who tied it and the guy who promoted it. Tie one, tie an adams, and then compare. What is brilliant about this one is that two or three material substitutions can result in a quick change from an Ephemeroptera to a Diptera. That is a whole different order. And the fly is responsible for one of my best Michigan dry fly days, and it even attracted the biggest brown of the day on Wyoming's Green River.